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A real-life Squid Game happened, minus all that death

Does the real-life Squid Game kind of miss the point of the series? Probably, but at least people lived!

By Vanessa Armstrong
Squid Game 104 Still

Remember Netflix’s hit series Squid Game, the show it seemed the entire world watched that revolved around how 456 down-on-their-luck people are killed off until only one remains to win a big money prize? The show was so popular, it seems, that there’s now a real-life version, this time without all that murder stuff.

YouTuber MrBeast hosted the real-life version seen below, which has a lower cash prize of $456,000 compared to the Netflix series’ $39 million. Competitors also don’t get murdered though, so there’s that. 

The video dropped on Nov. 24 and already has an impressive 116 million views so far. In it, you can see immaculately created recreations of the challenges in Netflix’s Squid Game, though again, no one gets killed. The real-life game is also nicer than the one created by Hwang Dong-hyuk in that those who make it to later rounds get some cash as a consolation prize, instead of, you know, death.

MrBeast, who has over 84 million subscribers on YouTube, is known for giving away lots of money and doing impressive stunts. This Squid Game reenactment sans horrible death is just his latest over-the-top video. Earlier entries have him buried underground for 50 hours and extreme games of tag with $500,000 cash prizes. 

If this Squid Game scenario isn’t high stakes enough for you, however, don’t fret — there’s still the first season to rewatch on Netflix, and we’ll eventually get a second season of said show, though Dong-hyuk has said it will explore a different theme other than capitalism literally being the death of us. 

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